View clinical trials related to Procalcitonin.
Filter by:Recently, it has been seen that investigations from saliva samples could be an alternative to those from blood samples. Saliva collection is a simple, non-invasive, cost-effective, and relatively easy method, making it potentially suitable as a new diagnostic tool in pediatric patients. In the current literature, elevated levels of saliva CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, and IFN-γ have been reported in inflammatory conditions. However, while there are animal studies suggesting the use of saliva PCT levels for focal diseases such as gingival inflammation and periodontitis and as a potential tool for non-invasive detection of sepsis, there is no human study regarding its use in systemic infections. The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between serum PCT levels and saliva PCT levels in children suspected of SBE and to determine the diagnostic value of saliva PCT.
Procalcitonin is a protein consisting of 116 amino-acids which can rapidly rise under inflammatory conditions and sepsis. More than 20 years ago it has been shown that dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4) cleaves procalcitonin from the n-terminus, resulting in a truncated procalcitonin-variant which consists of 114 aminoacids. Within our workgroup we found that the truncated procalcitonin-variant had deleterious effects on vascular integrity during sepsis in mice. However, it is unknown if this applies also in humans. By using an ELISA-assay we want to examine the ratio between native and truncated human procalcitonin during diseases accompanied with hyperprocalcitoninemia and correlate the results with clinical data.
Association between plasma procalcitonin levels and positive blood cultures in critical illness patients in the ICU.